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Qualcomm wins Apple case, could lead to iPhone ban in Germany: court

A German court on Thursday found in favour of US chipmaker Qualcomm in a patent dispute case against Apple, which could lead to a ban on sales of some iPhones in Germany.

Published: 20 December 2018 15:54 CET
Qualcomm wins Apple case, could lead to iPhone ban in Germany: court
An iPhone on a table. Photo: DPA

According to the court's ruling, the company would technically be allowed to halt iPhone sales in models that were determined to violate the patent rights.

“The ruling effectively outlaws the offering and placing on the market of the finished product in Germany, including the sale. The iPhones 7plus, 7, 8, 8plus and X are affected,” said the regional court in Munich in a statement.

Given that Apple can appeal the initial ruling, the court said the injunction banning sales of affected iPhones can only be imposed immediately if Qualcomm laid down a security deposit amounting to €668.4 million.

The court said it had sought the large sum as that could be the amount awarded to Apple in terms of revenue losses if the iPhone maker manages to get the Munich ruling overturned by a higher court.

Thursday's ruling marks a second major win for Qualcomm in a month after a court in China on December 10th ordered a prohibition on iPhone sales over a separate patent dispute there.

The two Californian tech giants have been locked in a long-running battle over patents and royalties that has played out in courts and administrative bodies worldwide.

At the heart of the dispute in the German case are chips made by one of Apple's suppliers used in iPhones, with both parties at loggerheads on how the chips actually function, said the court.

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French court orders Twitter to reveal anti-hate speech efforts

A French court has ordered Twitter to give activists full access to all its documents relating to efforts to combat racism, sexism and other forms of hate speech on the social network.

Published: 7 July 2021 10:03 CEST
French court orders Twitter to reveal anti-hate speech efforts
Photo: Alastair Pike | AFP

Six anti-discrimination groups had taken Twitter to court in France last year, accusing the US social media giant of “long-term and persistent” failures in blocking hateful comments from the site.

The Paris court ordered Twitter to grant the campaign groups full access to all documents relating to the company’s efforts to combat hate speech since May 2020. The ruling applies to Twitter’s global operation, not just France.

Twitter must hand over “all administrative, contractual, technical or commercial documents” detailing the resources it has assigned to fighting homophobic, racist and sexist discourse on the site, as well as “condoning crimes against humanity”.

The San Francisco-based company was given two months to comply with the ruling, which also said it must reveal how many moderators it employs in France to examine posts flagged as hateful, and data on the posts they process.

The ruling was welcomed by the Union of French Jewish Students (UEJF), one of the groups that had taken the social media giant to court.

“Twitter will finally have to take responsibility, stop equivocating and put ethics before profit and international expansion,” the UEJF said in a statement on its website.

Twitter’s hateful conduct policy bans users from promoting violence, or threatening or attacking people based on their race, religion, gender identity or disability, among other forms of discrimination.

Like other social media businesses it allows users to report posts they believe are hateful, and employs moderators to vet the content.

But anti-discrimination groups have long complained that holes in the policy allow hateful comments to stay online in many cases.

French prosecutors on Tuesday said they have opened an investigation into a wave of racist comments posted on Twitter aimed at members of the country’s national football team.

The comments, notably targeting Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe, were posted after France was eliminated from the Euro 2020 tournament last week.

France has also been having a wider public debate over how to balance the right to free speech with preventing hate speech, in the wake of the controversial case of a teenager known as Mila.

The 18-year-old sparked a furore last year when her videos, criticising Islam in vulgar terms, went viral on social media.

Thirteen people are on trial accused of subjecting her to such vicious harassment that she was forced to leave school and was placed under police protection.

While President Emmanuel Macron is among those who have defended her right to blaspheme, left-wing critics say her original remarks amounted to hate speech against Muslims.

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